Interviews

Interviews

Through my work with the Uniting Church Chaplaincy at Macquarie University I've got to interview some awesome, fascinating, intelligent, and humorous people. So have a watch & if you have suggestions of people to reach out to interview please let me know.

"Reconciliation is work that intersects with gender justice, climate justice, and racial justice" In this interview Liam sat down with Grace Ji-Sun Kim to talk about her involvement with the Duke Divinity School Summer Institute of Reconciliation.

We chat about reconciliation from a variety of angles: racial reconciliation (and some of the trap falls that can be encountered), climate justice and how the concept of Han can assist in how we advocate against the unjust suffering of the earth, Intercultural Ministry (and her new edited work on the topic), power imbalances in calls for and practices of reconciliation, and (less related, but still fascinating) what it’s like to write a book on the Spirit for the Homebrewed Christianity.

Order Intercultural Ministry: Hope for a Changing World, Check out Grace’s website, and pre-order Grace’s Homebrewed Guide to the Spirit as part of the complete set here

Lisa Sharon Harper - A Very Good Gospel

"It's not possible to say that you are under the Kingdom of God if you are ok with the image of God being crushed in your land"

Liam sat down with Lisa Sharon Harper, Chief Church Engagement Officer at Sojourners and author of The Very Good Gospel: How Everything Wrong Can Be Made Right.

This is a fun, inspiring, impassioned, and illuminating interview. Lisa walks her discovery that what she thought was good news wasn't good enough to those who've suffered under oppression and injustice and the journey to find a thicker good news. We talk shalom, examples of communities embodying the kingdom, the image of God, colonisation, and more.

Check out her website here: http://www.lisasharonharper.com/ (where you can download chapter one of the book for free)

Jeffrey C Pugh - End Times Theology, Rapture Culture, and their Political Ramifications

"I don't want to give up the end to the 'end-timers', because I think that the end is far more significant and richer than just this notion that Jesus is coming back to save you and kill all your friends"

Liam sat down with Jeffrey C. Pugh to talk about his new book, the Homebrewed Christianity guide to the End Times: theology after you've been Left Behind. We talk all things end times, including Children of Men, the Left Behind Series, Dietrich Bonhoeffer, and the current political climate...

You can check out the 10 book Homebrewed series here: https://homebrewedchristianity.com/product/homebrewed-christianity-guide-complete-set/

"An eschatological vision of the table of Christ runs directly counter to what the political vision of exclusion would build and structure for us in a society"

Mark Brett - Postcolonialism, Biblical Ethics, and Economics

"Where, historically, colonial theology has left Aboriginal voices out of view, I think, as a matter of theological method you should start with Aboriginal voices and then bring in the larger conversation of the Biblical and Christian tradition into Christian identity - never leaving out voices because you do so at your own peril"

Liam sat down with Mark Brett, the Professor of Old Testament and Research Coordinator at Whitley College, part of the University of Divinity, to talk about his recent book POLITICAL TRAUMA & HEALING: BIBLICAL ETHICS FOR A POSTCOLONIAL WORLD.

We cover a lot! We do a conceptual rapid fire round, getting tweetable definitions for a host of complex terms. We talk about what postcolonialism offers conversations around secular democracy and human rights, we address the church, and its habit to fall into ethno-centrism, Mark explores how we begin to begin with Aboriginal voices, and the last 10 minutes is a can't miss discussion on economics and Biblical ethics!

In the interview we talk her chapter for the book, what is the hope that intercultural ministry provides a changing world, the differences between multi-cultural and intercultural, intercultural ministry and creative expression, worship and reconciliation, her recent shift to work in a mega-church, what that experience has taught her, and the challenge to understand the importance of cultural humility.

To stay up to date with Angie follow her on twitter @angiekayhongor visit her website: http://www.angiekayhong.com/

To buy the book Intercultural Ministry: hope for a changing world, go here: https://www.amazon.com/Intercultural-Ministry-Hope-Changing-World/dp/0817017798

Liam sat down with Sarah Withrow King deputy director of The Sider Center of Eastern University and the co-director of CreatureKind. She is the author of Vegangelical: How Caring for Animals Can Shape Your Faith (Zondervan, 2016) and Animals Are Not Ours (No, Really, They're Not): An Evangelical Animal Liberation Theology (Cascade Books, 2016).

We talk about her session at the Duke Divinity School Summer Institute of Reconciliation (Incarnating a CreatureKind church), we talk about her books and the response they've received, animal liberation and the peaceable kingdom, whether there's a tension between animal justice and "social justice/development", what its like to be a vegan in church and more.

Check out the Summer Institute here: https://divinity.duke.edu/events/summer-institute-reconciliationFind out more about CreatureKind here: http://www.becreaturekind.org/And find out more about Sarah here:https://sarahwithrowking.com/

David Anderson Hooker - Narratives & Reconciliation

"Often reconciliation is a trick of the oppressor in a way that supports the continuation of inequality"

Liam sat down with David Anderson Hooker, professor of the practice of conflict transformation and peacebuilding at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

We talk about his upcoming session at the Duke Summer Institute of Reconciliation. We cover the way narratives shape identity and life in community and how this affects reconciliation processes. We touch on the US election and the battle between facts and narrative. David talks about the common mistakes people make when thinking about reconciliation and closes by drawing an important distinction between forgiveness and reconciliation.

Check out the Summer Institute of Reconciliation, and if you've liked what you've heard register your attendance: https://divinity.duke.edu/events/summer-institute-reconciliation

transformation and peacebuilding at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for International Peace Studies at the University of Notre Dame.

Nathanael Welch - Disability & the Church

"Art Walk is an attempt to make visible, those we've made invisible"

I sat down with Nathanael Welch to talk about disability, theology, church, and society and his work in creating Different United, a community for people with and without disabilities. We talk about our shared experience in the church as people with family members with disabilities, mistakes we've seen, hopes we hold. We also talk about his exciting new project (that you can be a part of) "Art Walk".

Check out the interview and then follow these links to find out more:Different United: http://www.differentunited.com/Nathanael's Blog: http://nathanaelwelch.com/Info on the Art Walk and more: https://t.co/MjUl72caAQ

John Flett - Political Popularism & Theological Discourse

"If you yourself are not ready to be converted, then you are not engaging in the discussion"

I talk with John Flett about his new course "Political Popularism and Theological Discourse", which aims at discovering how to speak theologically in a post-Brexit, post-Trump climate. See more about the course here: http://statusconfessionis.com/ and here: http://pilgrim.edu.au/events/interdisciplinary-theological-perspectives/ The course is run through Pilgrim Theological College, but is open to all.

In this interview we talk the course, popularism in its current form, the way Chriastians just wanted to "win" and so refused to yield power, interdisciplinary approaches, mission studies, "racism and the evangelical vote", #WTFtheology (aka: John's proudest achievement), and how mission (a non-America-First understanding of mission) can help counter this growing nationalist, popularist tide.

The course looks fantastic so be sure to check it out. Connect with John on twitter at @FlettJohn.

Thomas Jay Oord - Live Interview with Q&A

"Love is to act intentionally in response to others and God, to promote overall wellbeing"

Our first ever live interview was recorded at Yurora on Jan 10th. Thomas Jay Oord also becomes our first two time guest. We start off with a conceptual lightning round, with tweetable definitions of providence, theosis, kenosis, and love. We discuss his book The Uncontrolling Love of God, talk about the missiological implications of "essential kenosis", and then open up to the floor for a fantastic time of Q&A.

Thomas mentions this in the interview, but if you would like to download the audio version of the book (FOR FREE) visit: https://homebrewedchristianity.leadpages.co/uncontrolling-love-of-god-audio-book/

Find out more about Thomas Jay Oord here: http://thomasjayoord.com/Find more engagement with the book here: https://uncontrollinglove.com/

Stephanie Buckhanon Crowder - When Momma Speaks

Want some fresh takes on Biblical mothers? Wondering how class, race, and gender dynamics in Scriptural stories involving mothers inform cultural attitudes or prejudices about mothers today? Want to know which Biblical mother would make the best film?

I sat down with Michael J. Gorman, the Raymond E. Brown Professor of Biblical Studies and Theology at St. Mary’s Seminary & University in Baltimore, Maryland, USA. rof Gorman has written a whole shelf of fantastic and must read books. In the interview we focus mostly on Becoming the Gospel, which you can buy here. You can check out more of his books here.

In the interview we discuss participation, theosis ("transformative participation in the life of God"), and mission in the work of Paul. We explore the potential of the concept of Shalom in the work of reconciliation. I ask about potential synergy between Prof Gorman's work on theosis and participation and christification in non-Western christologies. We also talk about his book on Revelation (and his work to redeem the book from tracts and baggage), and his future project on mission and enemy love in the Johannine literature.

If you'd like an audio only file of the interview, right click here to download.

John Flett - Apostolicity, the Mission of God, and World Christianity

"The more you don't talk about mission, the more you stand guilty of colonisation"

I sat down with John Flett, author of Apostolicity, The Witness of God, and Coordinator of Studies - Missiology at Pilgrim Theological College. We cover a LOT of great content! His book on Apostolicity (hint: we start with what that word means), how it shakes out in conversations regarding diversity of structural expressions in world Christianity, the difficulty/danger of perceiving the church as a culture (hint: colonisation), the US election, understanding properly the colonial period of mission (hint: its about the sending churches), non-missionary mission, how the ignoring of mission is actually a way of avoiding external critique, the voiceless Jesus of Christmas, the persistent focus on "dying churches" in the Australia and the counterpoint of migrant and multicultural churches.... are you getting the picture? We cover A LOT :) You do not want to miss this!

Looking for a rigorous and graceful articulation of Christian Universalism and its impact on the life and mission of the church? I sat down with David W. Congdon, author of The God Who Saves and The Mission of Demythologizing: Rudolf Bultmann’s Dialectical Theology to discuss universalism, salvation as the guiding norm of theology, how universal eschatological salvation is good news for missiology, and why we don't need to fear the word apocalyptic.

Connect with David on twitter, at his website, and his blog - and don't forget to buy the book :)

If you want an audio only file to listen to why you commute, do chores or exercise, right click here to download.

Drew Hart - Challenging Racism in Church and Culture

I sat down with Drew Hart (author, teacher, activist) to discuss his book Trouble I've Seen: changing the way the church views racism. We talked about what white people/Christians so often get wrong about racism, why we shouldn't trust our instincts, the traits of a "whitened Jesus" (who needs to be left behind), and a beautiful picture of the Kingdom of God that subverts all hierarchies.

Grace Ji-Sun Kim - Drop the Holy - speaking of the Spirit in a globalised world

In this interview I get to talk about one of my favourite theological texts (with the author herself! #nerdgoals) Grace Ji-Sun Kim's, Embracing the Other: the Transformative Spirit of God. In this chat we cover: why talk about the Spirit, Christianity's Jesus problem, the treatment of foreign women in Scripture and culture, the racism toward (and stereotyping of) Asian Americans, and some concrete steps toward embracing the other.

If you just want the audio of the interview click the link to download.

Rev Dr Graham Hill - The Global Church Project

“Mission born at the margins challenges the usual questions, and their religious and power-based assumptions. It asks disruptive and disturbing questions about religion, wealth, identity, national pride, race and gender relations, power, and more.” How then, do we expand the church beyond western centrism?

If you want an audio only file to listen to the interview while you can right click this link to download.

Jason Chesnut - What do we do with the church?

I sat down with Jason Chesnut of the Slate Project to talk about the church. In this discussion we touch on the relationship between social media and the church, including the great work they are doing through communities such as #SlateSpeak and #SlateReads. We talk about the church's colonial history and continued need to be reformed and deconstructed, and how Jason is involved in these processes through movements such as Decolonise Lutherism. In the end we cover a whole lot of fascinating and challenging topics that the church needs to be engaging with if it is to be responsible to the world in which we find ourselves.

How do we speak of Jesus in a way which counters and challenges white supremacy and institutional racism rather than propping it up? In this interview with Brandi Miller, (Campus Minister, Blogger, Musician) we talk the prevalence of white supremacy in church and culture, the contribution of language of a Black Christ, the need to talk about structural inequality and oppression and not just individualistic salvation, and what makes a good ally.

Thomas Jay Oord - The Uncontrolling Love of God

How do we reconcile worldly suffering with a God of love? I sat down with Thomas Jay Oord; theologian, philosopher, author, and professor to talk about his book The Uncontrolling Love of God: an open and relational account of providence. In the discussion, Thomas presents a picture of God where God's loving nature comes first, meaning God coerce or act in a way which denies our freedom. Find out more about Thomas and purchase the book here

How do we responsibly speak of God in light of global warming and our ecological crises? I sat down with Dr Deborah Guess, Honorary Postdoctoral Associate, University of Divinity, to talk Creation as a continuing/evolving process, Jesus as stardust, and what (if anything) Christians can bring to the ecological movement.

If you just want the audio of the interview click (or download) the link below

Rev Dr Sally Douglas

We sit down with Rev Dr Sally Douglas - Minister, Lecturer, & Author of "Early Church Understandings of Jesus as the Female Divine: The Scandal of the Scandal of Particularity". We talk about the confession and worship of Jesus as the embodiment of woman wisdom, the female divine figure of the Old Testament in early Christian communities, and what this kind of imagery can offer to those of us following Jesus today. So much good stuff in such a short span of time.

Rinse & Repeat

A (hopefully) fun, provocative, and encouraging site where I sharing thoughts (blog, talk, video) on faith, world, and self. My name's Liam Miller, I have studied Theology, Social Sciences, and Acting. I enjoy reading radical theology (actually all kinds of theology) and telling stories - the two tend to intertwine on this site.

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To offer suggestions of guests, give feedback, or to have Liam speak at your church/event, or write for your site/publication, reach out using the details below.